wet then dry

drove up to chico saturday before coz i didnt see myself waking up at 3a to drive 3-4 hours, race twice, then drive back 3-4 hours on sunday. sunday morning 7a, its raining. do i get get ready, do i stay in, go back to bed, no i drove all that way and my team mate is driving up, let's go.

get to the event, get numbers, light sprinkles give way to just wet surfaces. voice mail from team mate, not coming, alright 1st race now is just warm-up for next race.

35+ 4/5 race: clip in, these guys take off, im already on the back, oh well "they're going to crash themselves going into these turns hard with slick tires" im saying to myself. lap 2 davis guy slides out crashes breaks collarbone, do they slow down? no. two laps later 5 guys get tangled up, one guy breaks collarbone, i start thinking pull me please pull me, do they? no. i need a way out, whats that the back wheel is slipping - did i not pump it up - nope its a FLAT! i graciously leave the race. next race: happens in 3hrs.

35+ 3/4 race: this is why i signed up for this event. race with the 3s. though im the only sjbc. those pulling up to the start line i knew this was going to be worth the drive up. whistle sounds the start. we're cruising getting settled in - off the front goes 2, vos and a squadra. fine by me there are plenty of teams here to chase this down. laps pass and nothing so finally i stir things up
i fly down the left take the turn hard hoping that i ll get someone eager to go with me, look back and the whole group is there, lovely, alright time to recover. i fall back to 10th.

another 20 minutes go by and we're in the 10 lap count now, again i go from mid pack this time hard right and i gap the field but again no one comes with me, so after 1/2 lap i settled back into the group and ride the remainder of the race as a spectator. in the end i finished with the group took top 30, top 14 for 4s, 25 mph average, 38 minutes of joy, 180HR avg with a max of 194.

last race of the season

one more race on sunday in chico. racing 35+ 4/5 and 35+ 3/4. looking forward to that 2nd race. love racing with the 3s & i hope that i will be there early next year. in another week or so ill list my goals for 2008.

now holding at 168

only another 3-4 pounds before i hit that magical race weight while still having the power to do my job as domestique. the first month is over, i was constantly hungry, chewed 121 pieces of gum and had a lot of salads. then riding and putting myself through that 2 hour window of not eating or drinking anything with calorie content. it was a struggle, but im no longer walking hungry.

4.4 miles

an email was sent by a climber - need flatlander to keep pace high and eliminate any early breaks. did i mention it was for mt tam hill climb race? why not, i sign up and respond, ill be there. a few days before the event he rode the course, explained that the first 4.4 miles before the turn are flat and into a headwind. with 16 z-team members in the field they could easily control the race and get a rider or two off the front, this was my job not to let this happen.

got up at 4:50a, got there at 7:30a for a good warm-up. we got to the line 10 minutes early to secure our position. ramon and i made up 2 of the 6 guys in the front and clark was right behind us. then gave the countdown and at the whistle i was off - purposely started in my 39x12 - makes for easy clipping in and the first few pedal strokes. quickly i was to the front of the group and pushing the pace high, it was how fast could i get to the right turn where the hill starts. only 3 of us were exchanging blows, a zteam and a amd, eaching taking massive pulls lasting 30-45 seconds. whenever any other team came to the front we quickly shut that down. we cruised at 27 and pushed it past 30 when the headwind became colder. up ahead was the right turn, folks in the road signaling - and at a 193 HR i was looking for a safe spot on the other side of cones.

4.4 miles in 11 minutes

my job was completed with high success, no one was off the front, the pack was in a long thin line and i could barely peddle for the next 5 minutes while i got my HR under control. it took me 52 minutes to ride the last 8.3 miles. my team mates took 4th and 15th, good day for sjbc.